quest to sub 16:30 : training log

One piece of advice. Don't worry so much about exact distances and paces. You appear to be using a GPS watch given the exact distances and paces. Just use a stop watch and run for a set period of time. For example, your long run might be 90 minutes so run for 90 minutes and the pace just is what it is.

Yep, I just added pace and distance for reference. Thank you though. Forgot to add week total is 50.2

Overall very good week. Started the base for SOM, I’ll continue doing just easy mileage for the next two weeks, then I’ll incorporate the tempos and workouts. No fatigue in my legs this week really, just trying to do the small things correct (stretching,rolling,sleep + recovery). Summer has finally started, it’s awesome to be out of school.

Monday : 10.5 @6:53 AVG

(This weeks LR, not as long as usual as lots of hills, got over 600 feet elevation)

Tuesday : 6.5 @7:35 AM ; 3 @7:50 on grass PM

Wednesday : 8 @ 7:36 AM ; 3 @7:44 on grass PM

Thursday : 6.5 @7:22 AM (sadly I was freeballing with tights and it was raining, the chafe wasn’t fun) ; 3 @ 7:53 on grass PM

Friday : 8 @ 7:32 AM ; 3 @ 7:11 PM

Saturday : 7 @ 7:37 AM ; 3 @ 7:24 PM

Sunday : 3.5 recovery @ 7:45

total : 65

Good week, going to implement days off weekly, making my week shortened to 6 days. Taking a down week this next one, and will be implementing the weekly tempo + weekly workout. Focusing on small things, and doubling 5 days a week.

Monday : 12 @7:28 ; 541 EL gain

Tuesday : AM 7 @ 7:33 ; PM 3 @ 7:33

Wednesday : AM 8.5 @7:40 ; PM 3.5 @7:56

Thursday : AM 2 miles @ LT, 4 miles @ 7:08 E ; 3 miles @ 7:01

Friday : Off

Saturday : AM 9 miles @7:14 550 ELE gain ; PM 3 @7:36

Sunday : AM 7 @ 6:40 ; 3 miles @ E

total 65

June 24-30

Did a down week to give my body a break from the higher mileage, will be getting back after it next week. The tempo this week went extremely good, and felt about 80-85% effort.

Monday : 10 miles @ 7:20 pace

Tuesday : 1 Mile WU 4x800 @ 2:50 LT w/1 lap jog , 1.25 mile CD total 5 miles ; PM 3 miles @ 7:10

Wednesday : AM 7 miles @ 7:21 ; PM 3 miles @7:33

Thursday : 6 miles @ 7:39

Friday : 1 Mile WU, 3 miles @LT ~ 5:47 AVG , 1 Mile CD ; 3 miles @ 7:41

Saturday : 8 miles @ 7:38 ; 3 miles @ 7:57

Sunday : off

Total : 53

I hope you don't mind me imposing myself on this thread. I too am on a quest for a fast 5k (sub 16), and I have a mile time one second slower than yours. Am I delusional? maybe

My 5k was 17:18 last fall after five weeks of no training cause of sickness. I know it's absurd, but I'm hoping I can bust out a fast one late in October and then go to states with my team in November.

Most of my training so far in high school has been low mileage and very inconsistent due to injury and other dumb stuff, which is why I've been working on ramping up my mileage so I can hopefully get to 60 mpw in early August. I have also swam 40 minutes almost every week and taken an off day almost every week. On weeks with a swim I only ran five days.

My mpw so far has been:

31

33

24

35

43

My long run this week should get me to 45. I didn't want to make too big of a jump this week cause I'm really afraid of injury.

Plan for rest of summa:

36 (recovery week)

46

50

55

60

50

Have a good one.

I think you got this. Good luck man, keep me updated.

: good week overall. busy and tiring, but I got it done. goal is 68-69 this next week then down.

M 12.5

T 1.5 WU, 12x400 starting @ 1:24->1:20 (easy) 1.5 CD /3

W 8.5/3

T 10/3

F : 1 Mile WU 3 miles @5:50 1 Mile CD / 3

S 6/3

S 4

total : 67

I see that you're doubling a lot with three in the afternoon and it's really boosting your weekly mileage. Ive mostly been doing 7-8 mile single days and it isn't getting me nearly as high as you. I know SOM says to do doubles, but does 3 in the afternoon feel like enough to actually be affecting your fitness? If so, then I'd definitely like to give it a try. Peace.

Not OP but I will say that personally, I don't think short runs like that are very beneficial. I am also implementing shorter runs as doubles but only as extra mileage on top on my goal.

For instance, if my weekly goal is 50 miles, I'll lay out the week to hit that distance on singles only, but if I get the chance to run with friends/teammates/coaches or if later in the day the weather looks really good, I'll just head out and run whatever I feel like, but it doesn't actually contribute to my goal weekly mileage if that makes sense.

A 3-to-4 mile second run is pretty standard for high school doubles. Definitely beneficial. Count those miles toward your goal.

Goofus : I definitely think the afternoon miles help. I’m past the point where the fatigue hit I think, but once you hit that barrier and you pass through it, I found my easy runs being quicker and just feeling all around great during workouts.

Recap : Pretty busy week, was volunteering throughout the day Tuesday-Friday so that took up a large chunk of time. Didn’t feel to motivated to run, but I still got the mileage in. Feeling super motivated, as each tempo run its feeling more and more easy. I’ve been trying to stay within Malmos recommendations of 5:50-6:00 for a runner similar to me, but I think I’m ready to bump it down a bit, and extend it to 4 miles possibly. I’m getting pretty bored running alone. Tomorrow I plan on doing a 14 mile LR, will try keeping pace around 7:30-7:40 average.

Monday : 12 mile LR

Tuesday : OFF

Wednesday : 3 miles AM/7 miles (fartlek)

PM

Thursday : 4 miles AM / 8 miles PM

Friday : 3 miles AM/ 10 miles PM

Saturday. : 3 miles AM/ 1.5 WU, 3 mile Tempo @ 5:56,5:53,5:48 1.5 CD

Sunday : 7 miles AM/ 4 miles PM

TOTAL : 67

goal is 70 next week xo

This past week I was shooting for 38 miles as an off week, but I went surfing Saturday and was so sore on Sunday that I could barely walk and did not run. I still got a good bit of exersize in so I'm not super worried. My goal for the coming week is 48, then 52, 58, and max out at 60. I also plan on doubling in the coming weeks.

Monday: 45 minute swim

Tuesday: 2 mile wu, 5 miles of 3on 3off minus the last three off (total 33 minutes). 1.5 mile cool down. Total 8.5 miles.

Wednesday: 6.35

Thursday: 8.14

Friday: off

Saturday: 7.38 little progression with last three mid 6s

Sunday: body decimated. off.

Total:30

70 is big–– good luck and stay safe.

Cowabunga,

Goofus

webby wrote:

A 3-to-4 mile second run is pretty standard for high school doubles. Definitely beneficial. Count those miles toward your goal.

At this stage of a runners career, he needs to build aerobic fitness. A longer, single run is much better for that than 2 short ones.

Elites use doubles, for multiple reasons.

1) They got such a big base that longer, easy runs don't really do much for them anymore.

2) For recovery, two shorter runs are MUCH better than a single longer one.

You see OP is doubling a lot and running weeks without any solid workouts. I'd much rather have him do two strong sessions a week, a long run and rest easy recovery runs as singles. Doubles can be introduced when he gets to high mileage or he hits a wall, but with his current level I don't think doubles are necessary at all.

I'd even say striders and hill reps/sprints are more important, to focus on mechanics and neuromuscular system. He won't get aerobically fit with those 3-4 mile doubles.

None of that is a fact, that's pure opinion. Doubles work for any level, as long as the main runs are a good distance. I hit the same mileage with the same size doubles and PRd by 12 seconds in the mile my senior year. Don't diss them because he's young. It builds aerobic ability whether you're elite or not.

OP- keep doing the doubles. You’re running way more than you have in the past. Any amount of mileage will help you, whether in doubles or singles. The doubles help your recovery and give your body a stimulus to kick start recovery twice a day. Also, to the other poster, he doesn’t need to worry about having two great sessions a week. It’s summer and he’s running more than he ever has.

OP- I think instead of making that tempo too much faster, just increase the distance a bit. 3 mile tempos aren’t too long. Save the faster stuff for Fartleks, strides and or hills at this point.

Ummmmm what? wrote:

Doubles work for any level, as long as the main runs are a good distance. I hit the same mileage with the same size doubles and PRd by 12 seconds in the mile my senior year. Don't diss them because he's young. It builds aerobic ability whether you're elite or not.

I'm a big fan of doubles, when they are appropriate. He is a rising HS junior - his lifetime mileage is around 1.5 years of 15 mpw, and 0.5 years of 45 mpw. That's not much. Definitely not enough to build his endurance to a great level. That's why longer, single runs are very important in this phase of his training.

Ritzenhein did doubles (5/5 instead of 10) during marathon training. His explanation? He recovers better, and he ran extremely tough Canova-style long runs once every 2 weeks and a BIG workout the other week which had volume like his long runs. The difference to OP is, Ritzenhein had a decade of high volume training, for his endurance it makes 0 diff if he does a 10 mile run or two 5 milers.

OP however, would benefit much more from regular runs in the 8-9 mile range (1 hour). He also needs strides and some hill sprints, to work on mechanics and promote proper form. OP is pretty talented, he ran 5:06 mile out of nothing on 15 mpw as a HS freshman. With this talent, he can get very far on 50-60 mpw in singles, probably to around 4:20-4:25. Then he can improve further if he starts introducing doubles and increasing his mileage (I like his way of introducing doubles, it's perfect just feel it's a bit too early for his career).

To the other guy - yes, I think the summer is a great time to build endurance. What's best for this? Singles. If he really wants to double, he should do it during Fall season after hard team-workouts get introduced. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but he could maintain the endurance he built with singles in the summer with a good long run and use the doubles to recover faster from hard workouts in season.

Finally, you see him doing down weeks, and taking a day off most weeks. This is another question of training philosophy, but mine would be to not train so hard that down weeks are needed in summer, and to train on 7 days to keep blood volume up and running skill (and yes, I can't prove anything scientifically, most is just from books, discussions and personal experience - like often I would feel worse after a day off than if I just run for easy 25 min).

Thanks everyone for your inputs. I do strides about 3x a week, sometimes they’re at mile pace, sometimes they are like 30 meter flys. I chose to do SOM, because I wanted to experiment this summer and have fun while building my base. If it doesn’t work for me , as you claim it’d be better to do longer singles then I will switch to singles this winter, which I will probably be forced to anyways because of school. Also, on my days off the past 3 days I took them this summer, 2 of them I played a full 80 minutes of soccer on. The other one was a complete rest day. Phil, I take your advice greatly but I plan on sticking to SOM the full way through.

To whoever said to increase my tempo, thank you. I will do that either this week or the following week depending on how I’m feeling.

Should I start doing hill sprints? I try to do one “Hill” run a week where it’s basically five - seven miles of steady ups and downs.

If anyone wants to input feel free.

Doesn’t look bad man. Take it easy when you need to. Give your body time to rest. I often question my training when I read threads on here debating singles v doubles, I try not to let it get into my head and cause doubts. If you want to share stravas, shoot me a burner email and I’ll message you my name.

By the way. This week, the only two days I am running that aren’t a full hour of steady running or my workout days. The other 4 are all over 60 mins in the initial run with one of them being over 90.